Insurance Structured Settlement Ins and Outs

An insurance structured settlement can be hugely beneficial to you should you be awarded compensation entitlement in a court of law.

A structured settlement can be considered the ultimate safe option, as it guarantees your financial security for the rest of your life in the event your earning capabilities are hindered by injury or other medical conditions.

Structured settlements are awarded instead of a one-time lump sum payment, and are agreed after the plaintiff and defendant in a compensation case hammer out the terms and conditions of the deal.

Usually, the result is that the defendant agrees to make regular payments on a monthly or annual basis for the rest of the plaintiff’s life, or for an agreed amount of years.

Many people find that structured settlements are much more preferable to going to court to secure a one-off payment, for a whole host of reasons. Here are some of the most compelling reasons to go down this route:

Many decide that opting for structured settlement money is better as obtaining a lump sum payout can be very tricky, especially if the defendant takes the case to court. One recent estimate put the likelihood of winning a claim for lump sum payment as low as 10%.

Many defendants can come up with compelling reasons as to why they should not be blamed for the injury you have sustained, or they convince the judge that they are only partially to blame – therefore it often pays to adhere to the consensus that ‘something is better than nothing at all’.

Often enough, the court will decide upon insurance structured settlement payments anyway, as many defendants are unable to cough up everything in one go.

Court fees and attorney fees will be substantially reduced by settling out of court, and so if it’s possible to make an agreement with the defendant, then it really is the best solution for all involved.

You can decide to sell your insurance structured settlement at a later date anyway, so the option for a lump sum is always there. You can trade in your structured settlement for cash to one of the dozens of financial companies that engage in the practice of buying them at any point in the future.